Solas did wonder if he'd made the right decision in bringing Holli to the Dalish and manually removing those broken bits of bone. Perhaps waiting until she'd woken with enough lucidity to heal herself was the better idea. He supposed he had been afraid with the amount of agony she would be in; she wouldn't be able to heal effectively.
The concoction Hawen had given Holli must have been powerful; it kept her sleeping through the night and well into the next day, a couple of moments of wakefulness that didn't last long. Cole remained ever vigilant beside her. A couple of the others had tried to get him to take a break and have a little walk, but he politely declined or just silently stared until they stopped insisting.
Solas sat with both of them at times, conversing with Cole. Occasionally Varric joined them.
It wasn't until the afternoon that Holli finally awoke, her eyes opening and staring blankly at the ceiling. Cole tensed. Solas wondered if the boy was even still breathing as he waited for Holli to acknowledge him. And she did smile when her eyes landed on him, a small joyful thing at the sight of him.
"Holli," he breathed out, returning that smile with one of his own.
Their simple expression of affection for each other was quite charming, Solas supposed.
"My shoulder hurts," she muttered, losing her smile.
"Don't try to heal it just yet," Solas warned her. "Wait until you're more cognisant."
"I could use some painkillers if you have any," she said, rolling her head to the side to look at him.
He had heard her use the term a few times interchangeably with pain relief.
"I have something you can take," Solas said, offering a small glass bottle for her to drink.
She tipped it back, wincing at the taste. "We need to invent pills," she mumbled weakly.
She would be a little hazy until the sedative wore off completely.
"And cars. And phones. And heat pumps," she droned. "Jeans. I've only got one pair left."
Maybe she would be more than a little hazy until the sedative wore off. Perhaps another couple of hours.
"Am I allowed to move?" She asked.
"We can sit you up, as long as you're careful," Solas told her.
She nodded, letting them help her into a sitting position. Cole took a seat beside her, on her uninjured side, his fingers laced with hers.
"Is this an aravel?" She asked, looking around.
"It is," Solas replied. While he had been teaching her Elven, they had spoken a bit of the culture and the history.
She had briefly wondered what clan her father had come from and if he had any living relatives. He'd subtly changed the subject. Riluan had none. Like Solas, he'd not been born of a mother and father, hence no siblings or extended family. And there had not been Dalish clans as they are today.
"Was Dorian okay?" Holli asked, remembering he had been there too when she'd been shot.
"He's fine, da'len, a cut on his arm, nothing more."
She nodded, her head falling against Cole's shoulder and her eyes slipping closed a moment.
"I think I could heal myself," she sighed out.
"I'm sure you could," Solas said, humouring her. "But to be safe, wait until the sedative has worn off."
She heaved a heavy sigh, wincing at the twinge in her shoulder. The painkiller he'd given her didn't eliminate it entirely.
Solas stood. "I'll find you something to eat."
"I don't think I could stomach anything right now."
"I'll find something light," he returned, leaving them alone.
"Are you okay, Cole?" She asked. "You seem all tense."
"I just... don't want to hurt you. Does your shoulder trouble you much?"
"It's not so bad if I don't move, breathe too deep...or exist."
She could already feel her mind clearing a little, still sluggish and speech a little slurred, super sleepy. But without the blinding agony, she felt a little better. Without Solas to urge caution, she tried to summon up her magic, just a little bit, to see if she had enough control and power behind it. She managed a few erratic sparks, and moving her hand hurt her shoulder. She needed to get better at working her magic when she felt like shit. If she were injured in a fight and couldn't work her magic to save her, what good was she?
Cole took her hand, closing it and putting an end to the flow of her magic from it, and shaking his head.
"Solas said to wait."
"And wait I shall, I guess," she sighed. "So, are we in a Dalish camp?"
Cole nodded.
"Help me up," she said. "I want to see it."
"I don't know if—"
"Solas never said anything about having to stay lying down. The fresh air might even help. Please, Cole?" She turned wide, pleading eyes to him.
He caved immediately, getting to his feet and helping her up with him, holding her steady. He had to be careful with her down the stairs. They took them slowly, and when she was on the ground, she gazed around the place. It wasn't exactly impressive, but she was aware they moved around a lot. She thought the aravels were pretty, like land ships. Could magic make them fly?
"Just a bit of pixie dust..." she mused, running her hand along the wooden... hull? Was it still called a hull?
She could imagine them sailing through the sky; it would be awesome. They could be sky pirates. Sky pirate doctors without borders. She laughed to herself at the thought even though it really wasn't that amusing. It was an interesting idea, though.
"Holly jolly!" They looked over at the voice where Hawke was standing, hands on hips, grinning at them.
"Hawke dork!" She called back. Not her finest work.
"Up and about already, eh? Great. We have rifts to close."
"She's hardly going to be in any condition for that today." Solas suddenly appeared, a bowl of some kind of fruit in his hands.
"Sit down somewhere, Holli," Solas told her.
Holli obeyed, finding a few stumps close together. She dropped heavily onto one, a wave of dizziness washing over her. She closed her eyes and rode it out.
"Holli?" Cole asked, concerned.
"I'm good," she croaked out. "Just gimme a sec."
When she opened her eyes, Solas offered her the bowl. Fruit did seem like something she could manage to swallow down. She had no idea what kind of fruit it was, but it was tasty and nothing like she was familiar with back home. But then, fruit wasn't something she'd had a lot of. She offered some to Cole, and he took a little. He still wasn't a big eater, but he did it because she offered. It seemed to be helping him a bit, his eyes and cheeks not so hollow. Maybe he didn't need the food to survive, but it was helping him regardless.
The clan was decently sized from what she could see; some of them watched their little group with interest, but they kept their distance.
"They're not happy with us being here?" She asked Solas.
"They're not... unhappy, merely wary," he replied.
"Humans come and go, always taking, always forgetting," Cole said. "The Dalish can't forget, forced to remember that once they had a place in the world."
The silence stretched as both Solas and Holli stared at him.
"Ouch," Holli finally said.
That... sucked for the Dalish.
"Is there anything we can do for them?" She asked Solas.
"Closing the rifts in the area would be a good start."
She nodded, reaching for her shoulder.
"Give it another hour at least," Solas warned. "You could damage yourself further."
"I might make it better too; I'm ready to roll those dice."
"I'm not."
"Nor am I, if I get a vote," Cole said.
Holli looked at where he was sitting beside her and softened a bit. "Fine, two against one. I'll wait."
-
The air crackled with magic; Holli thought the ground beneath them may have been trembling as well. This was the third rift they'd be closing today, and the amount demons far outnumbered what they usually encountered.
Holli kept close to Solas, as per the norm in these fights now. They preferred someone be near her should something go wrong.
She could see Cole, his blades slicing through the air. He practically danced around the demons, each dagger finding its mark in vital spots. His strikes were graceful and deadly. Holli tensed when she saw one lunge at him, claws outstretched, but he just ducked under it, rolling to his feet and taking it out.
Fenris and Hawke were a wall of steel and force, just absolutely decimating the demons, cleaving right through them. Holli wasn't sure if it was a good thing she didn't get as queasy about it as she used to. Becoming desensitised to the violence was beneficial, but she wasn't sure if it was good for her mental health.
She saw Cassandra being set upon by a couple of the hunger demons, and behind her the bubbling muck signified a terror demon. It happened so quickly, but Holli managed to shield Cassandra's back as it leapt from the ground and tried to slash at her. Cassandra quickly took out the hunger demons before turning to engage the other. Holli let her shield drop so she could.
Bull was carving his way through more of the hunger ones like they were made of butter. It always amazed her how someone so massive could move so quick.
Dorian and Solas were taking out the wraiths since they were the only range. Hawke had left Varric at home, and Sera had had to leave to take care of something for a few days. She hadn't deigned to tell them what. Vivienne too had opted to stay at Skyhold, with no desire to traipse about through the Dales.
In the middle of the battlefield sat the rift. Holli could feel it; she was getting better and sensing the nuances in the energy. Not all rifts felt the same, and not all of them released the same demons, or the same amount. She could even sense how many had come through and the connection between rift and demon. It was a strange sort of knowing.
And from what she could tell, the longer a rift had been open, the harder it was to close, and the more demons connected to it.
Holli reached for the rift, connecting to it and trying to pull it closed in an attempt to stagger and disorient the demons. It didn't last long, but it helped the others maintain control of the battlefield. Today was the first time she'd been able to do it more than once. The fights didn't usually last this long.
"Well done, Holli," Solas commended. "Now would be a good time to practise your aim."
The wraiths were still, so Holli started hurling fireballs. Back at school, sports had not been her strong suit; the distance she could throw a ball was pathetic. But throwing a fireball, she rocked that shit since she could propel it with magic, not just her own physical strength. But her aim... Yeah, that was still a bit shite.
"Ha!" She bounced a bit as she finally landed a fireball, centre mass.
It knocked the wraith out of its stupor, and she fired again and again, trying to keep it from rejoining the fight until it was... dead? She wasn't sure if dead was what happened to them. Solas said they were like spirits, their energy returning to the Fade.
"I need, like, a reticule or something," she muttered.
A little indicator to know where she was actually going to hit, not where she thought she was. Because so far, most of the time she was a bit off.
The ground at their feet started to bubble, and they both took a step back, readying for the attack. It didn't get far; as soon as it was out of the ground, a blade protruded from its chest, and then its head was cut off. When its body dropped and started to dissolve, Cole stood there, that adorable smile on his face. He reminded her of a golden retriever at times, a super deadly, graceful, hot-
She smiled back, her cheeks flushing and her stomach flipping. His smile widened.
"Really, you two?" Solas huffed.
Their smiles quickly dropped, and Cole vanished, reappearing beside Bull and helping fight off the small number of demons he was stomping into the ground.
Holli avoided looking in Solas's direction; she could imagine the judgey eyes just fine on her own.
Once the demons were dealt with, Holli sealed the rift, silence settling over the area. Whatever sense the rift set off in her calmed as well; it was like an extra layer of silence over her soul that brought a deeper touch of relief.
"Anyone injured?" She asked, perhaps a little too eagerly.
"I love the way you ask it with such excitement," Dorian said, offering his arm where there was a cross between a burn and a graze. She wasn't sure what the wraiths projectiles fell under, but they caused odd wounds.
She took Dorian's arm, really focusing, really trying to slow it down so she could get a better sense of why it was hurting. She saw him grit his teeth as he rode out the pain, but the wound was gone. She thought she was starting to get an idea of why it went the way it did, but she was having trouble isolating the... feeling? Function? She was still figuring magic out.
"Blemish-free, well done," he congratulated.
Grazey things like that, she usually left no marks anyway, not unless it went quite deep.
"Too bad," Bull said. "I have a thing for scars."
"And I'm not mutilating myself to appeal to you."
"You appeal just fine," Bull smirked.
"Come on, let's give Keeper Hawen the good news," Hawke said, wiping the demon muck from his sword and setting out.
Today felt like a productive day. Better than yesterday. She'd healed herself and had a good sleep, and she was feeling quite good today. Accomplished.
Cole fell into step beside her, shoulder to shoulder. He reached up, wiping something off her face. It was black, so probably more demon muck. While normally that would bother her, she was too busy trying to not melt at his touch. It was a little embarrassing the effect he had on her.
She sort of just wanted to snog him senseless. Now wasn't the time. She also wasn't sure if that was his thing. One day she'd work up the guts to ask.